Kintyre

Campbeltown

Kintyre is a peninsula in south west Scotland that extends for some
40 miles from the Mull of Kintyre in the south to
Tarbert in the north. The
peninsula is nowhere much more than ten miles wide. At
Tarbert the isthmus preventing
the rest of Kintyre becoming an island is just a mile across, where West Loch
Kintyre bites deeply into the peninsula and only just fails to meet East Loch
Tarbert, around which Tarbert's harbour is built.

There are a number of Tarberts in Scotland, and each is
characterised by a narrow strip of land, usually where two lochs nearly meet.
The name comes from the GaelicTairbeart. This is
literally translated as "draw-boat" and more usually as "isthmus". The
Gaelic name was demonstrated
in practice in 1093. To prove that he could add Kintyre to his claim for all
the western islands, the Viking King Magnus Barelegs rode in a longboat as it
was dragged across the isthmus. An island was something you could travel round
in a boat: therefore his journey made Kintyre an island. And therefore, he
claimed, it was his.

Set at the head of a deep loch, sheltered by Davaar Island and
surrounding hills, is Kintyre's main settlement,
Campbeltown, one of the largest towns
in Argyll. Its heyday was in
the Victorian era with its thriving shipbuilding, fishing and whisky
industries. Today only three distilleries are in production. The best known is
Springbank Distillery, which provides a
unique insight into a distillery which undertakes 100% of the process
in-house.

Elsewhere in Campbeltown is
the excellent Campbeltown Heritage
Centre, while on the quayside is the Campbeltown Museum and Library and the
nearby "Wee Picture House". Campbeltown
also has some striking churches, including the Lorne and Lowland Church with
its huge tower, built for the Scots-speaking residents of the town, and the
Highland Parish Church, built for
the Gaelic-speaking highland
population.

A popular day trip from Campbeltown is to Davaar Island,
accessible from the mainland only at low tide by means of a peculiar dog-leg
stretch of shingle. The island is uninhabited, save for sheep, and its main
attraction is a cave painting of the Crucifixion secretly produced by a local
artist in the late 1800s.

Carskey Bay and Macharioch Bay both have appealing beaches
overlooking Ailsa Craig in the Firth of Clyde. Beyond Keil, the road continues
to the most southwesterly point of the peninsula, the
Mull of Kintyre. From here,
Ireland, only 12 miles away, is clearly visible.

Campbeltown lies at the
eastern end of the only low lying part of Kintyre; the western end being
occupied by Machrihanish, and its
airfield, which boasts one of the longest runways in Europe, and provides air
services to Glasgow. Meanwhile,
Machrihanish, itself,
five miles west of Campbeltown is
increasingly making a name as an internationally important golfing
destination.

Further north, you take your pick between roads running up the east
coast or the west coast, for there are no cross-connections between
Campbeltown in the south and
Kennacraig, just south of
Tarbert, in the north. This is
the location of the main ferry
terminus for Islay; and a rather
lonely spot in which to find such an important transport link.

Of the two alternatives the west coast offers the main road, much of
it laid along raised beaches standing back from wonderful rocky bays with white
sand, complete with superb views of Jura and
Islay. And if you want to visit the
low-lying Isle of Gigha with its
many attractions, then this is the side to take. Access to
Gigha is via a frequent car ferry
from Tayinloan on the Kintyre coast, which itself is roughly mid way between
Tarbert and
Campbeltown

This isn't the side for anyone in a hurry, but it does offer
dramatic views of Arran, and a range
of surprising little settlements, including Saddell, home to the ruins of
Saddell Abbey. Nearer
Campbeltown the road also passes the
well preserved remains of Kildonan Dun.
Further north is the slipway at Claonaig, from where you can catch
the ferry to
Lochranza on the
Isle of Arran.

Set at the northern end of Kintyre,
Tarbert is a lovely fishing
village backed by rocky hills. The distinctive church tower dominates its
skyline. Tarbert was a centre
for the herring industry as far back as 836 when it gained mention in the
Annals of Ulster.